Amor et Bellum
by Alainn
Summary: When a battle several years prior to the movie claims the life of one of Arthur's many knights, Lancelot is left to care for his daughter. But feelings between them change as the years pass. LancelotOC
1. Prologue

Sorry so short everyone, but it's only a prologue and I'm posting Chapter 1 too. **This is told from the perspective of Lancelot's daughter**, but really, in the next chapter, it goes third person except for some of her explanations **in italics**.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the movie or any character in it, blah, blah, blah, don't sue.

**No flames please, though constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Prologue**

I am told my father was a great man.

I am told because I never knew him.

And now I sit by my mother's bedside, gripping her hand tightly in my own as she coughs up scarlet blood into her handkerchief that has long past it's point of being useful.

And I know I am losing her as well.

I hate things I can't control. Well, not control-any situation that renders me helpless.

All I have is Arthur visiting more often than usual, placing a firm hand on my shoulder and telling me that it is in God's hands now.

I also hate the idea that I am not in control of my own fate.

And he knows this. I don't know what comfort he hopes to give me by dispensing religious platitudes. I resist the urge to ask him why people only say that about bad things.

I turn from where Arthur stands behind me back to my mother, whose last fit has ceased finally. They seem to be growing in severity every day. She manages to smile at me, reaching up to finger my dark hair.

Suddenly I wish someone had been able to tell her story as I knew Arthur's would be passed throughout the ages. In a few days, all that would be left of her on this earth was me, and one day I would be forgotten as well.

So perhaps it is time someone told it.

Perhaps I shall tell it to you.

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My writing is usually not so choppy, so please, bear with me, lol. Chapter 1 gets more into the story.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Many years ago..._

"Arthur!"

The voice echoed across the battlefield, carrying until it reached the commander who stood over the masses of slain Woads surrounding him, his sword still clutched in his hand, the cold steel still stained with blood. He turned at the sound of his name, searching the area for the owner of the voice.

He spotted many of his knights trudging through the bodies and debris, searching for their own among the dead. Arthur began making his way toward a concentration of them that had gathered around an unknown attraction, hearing the same call he had heard a moment before-his name-in far too desperate a tone for his liking.

"Make way," he ordered, shoving through the soldiers in his path and breaking into the circle they had formed around what he now discovered was a fallen comrade. The knight's head rested in Lancelot's lap. Arthur leaned over and gently pried the helmet off his head.

"Accolon," he whispered dejectedly, raising his gaze to meet Lancelot's dark eyes.

"He's alive," his friend assured him. "For now."

"He needs a healer," Arthur insisted, turning to the warriors behind him. "Someone bring me a horse!" he yelled at them. Two or three immediately sprinted off in the opposite direction. Arthur rose to his feet. "Anyone else who's not dead?" he questioned, glancing to Gawain for an answer.

The younger man nodded. "A few."

"I want the wounded mounted with other knights," he commanded, then turned back to Lancelot. "Stay with him," he said, gesturing toward Accolon, then moving to follow Gawain toward the others injured.

* * *

"How is he?" Arthur inquired, stepping through the thin curtains to the bed beyond them where Lancelot sat, watching Accolon for any sign of animation.

Lancelot did not turn completely, simply glancing behind him, then returning his vigilant gaze to his other friend. "Not well," he revealed, sighing and drooping his head. "How are the others?"

"They will live."

Lancelot swallowed hard, lifting his head when Accolon shifted, groaning slightly, then opening his eyes. They fell first on Lancelot and then upon Arthur, standing at the foot of the bed, his arms crossed over the chest plate of his armor.

Accolon's lips began to curve upward. "My friends," he managed and they both gave him weak smiles in return. He turned his head toward the younger of the two, whom he had always been closer to. "I shall not see our table again."

Lancelot shook his head resolutely. "Don't talk like that," he protested.

"No." He shook his head. "I feel it. I need neither of you telling me otherwise."

This brought a small chuckle out of Arthur and Accolon smiled at him again before lifting his hand to grasp Lancelot's neck and tug him down closer to his level. "My wife has long since passed," he told him and Lancelot's brow furrowed in confusion, but he inclined his head in agreement. "And I will see her now," Accolon went on. "But I cannot leave my daughter alone."

Arthur's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Accolon--" he began.

The knight ignored him, continuing to hold Lancelot's stare. "You will take care of her for me, my friend?" he requested, his grip on Lancelot tightening in desperation. "Promise me."

Had the situation not been so dire, Arthur would have laughed. The thought of Lancelot, barely nineteen caring for a child only inspired mirth in his mind. He could see Accolon's reasoning. He shuddered to think what would happen to his daughter when she reached womanhood, surrounded by his knights. But for Lancelot to care for her--

"I will," he heard Lancelot say before he could stop him and he cursed the teen's blind devotion, not for the first time.

"Lancelot," Arthur said harshly, drawing his attention. "May I see you for a moment?" He glanced at Accolon. "Outside?"

When Lancelot rose to his feet, Arthur seized him by the shoulder and dragged him out of the tent and out of earshot.

"Are you mad?" he demanded and Lancelot jerked his arm away from him, straightening his tunic. "What do you know of children?"

"Elena has seen nine winters," he reminded him. "It is not as though he is leaving me with a babe. I can see to her better than she can herself. Are you suggesting we leave her to the Woads and Saxons in the wild?"

"Of course not," Arthur sighed, glancing back at the entrance to the tent. "I just don't know about this."

"Well, it takes a village, yes? We'll all help."

"You're making this decision for everyone?"

"Where else is she to go Arthur?" he asked. His friend did not reply. "I made a promise," he told him. "I stand by it." With that, he turned, lifted the tent flap and ducked back inside.

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Replies please!!!


	3. Chapter 2

Here you are everyone, more!

Thanks for all the replies, this is one of the highest number I've gotten for one posting (since the chapters were put up at the same time).

**Chapter 2**

Riding back home was a somber event. None of the knights were in any state to speak to each other as was customary after they had lost so many and due to this, an awkward silence descended on them as they drew near the Roman fortress. When Arthur would glance in Lancelot's direction he got the impression that he was wondering what he was going to tell Elena.

Arthur himself was wondering how Lancelot intended to tell her that he was now her new guardian.

He would be the first to admit that among all the knights, Lancelot was probably the one she trusted most. Accolon had spent the most time with he and Arthur and while he had always employed a rather potent degree of stoicism around the child, Lancelot insisted on being her friend. She often ran to him for entertainment when they were at home.

But he would not be able to replace her father.

"Lancelot," Arthur called, looking to the rider of the horse trotting alongside his own. He received no reply, his friend simply continuing to stare off into the distance. "Lancelot?" he said again, this time louder.

Startled from his reverie, Lancelot jerked slightly and turned. "What?"

"I'm wondering how you plan to tell Elena about Accolon," he told him.

Lancelot's eyes returned to their path. "I have not yet decided."

"Well," Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, "it's just that this sort of thing requires a certain…er…finesse."

This actually coaxed a small smile from the younger knight. "Are you saying I have no finesse Arthur?"

Arthur gave a vague chortle. He knew many women who had met Lancelot would strongly disagree. "No," he said. "Just…break the news gently is all."

Lancelot's smile faded. "I would never hurt her Arthur."

"I know that," Arthur agreed. "But telling her this will, whether you mean to or not."

Lancelot cocked a dark eyebrow. "Then is it possible for me to plan out the conversation in peace?"

Arthur hesitated, then nodded and they continued riding in silence.

* * *

Watching Elena run toward them gleefully as they dismounted caused Lancelot's chest to twinge painfully. But it was hard not to laugh at her antics when she spotted him and jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck. When she was smaller she would attach herself to his leg, but she had grown a little too tall for that, only in the past year or so. He almost wished Accolon _had_ left him with a smaller child who wouldn't understand the loss of him.

He lifted her off her feat. "How is my little one?"

"I'm not little," she insisted defiantly.

"No, you're not," he laughed, setting her down again. "If you were you would no be so heavy."

She grinned at him and took a step back, glancing all around them as the others began leading their horses into the stable. "Where is father?" she asked.

Any humor in his gaze disappeared as quickly as it had come. He placed a hand on her back and began leading her back inside the walls. "Come, I need to speak with you."

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Keep up all the feedback! It keeps me going! And he'll tell her next chapter, then we'll move into them growing accustomed to each other, then she'll grow up a little faster, cuz I know everyone wants mush, lol.


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